SHOPPERS looked on in horror as an asylum seeker slashed his wrists in a busy street after his application to stay in Britain was refused.

Moments earlier, the Iranian had scribbled a note saying: "You have to kill yourself in this country to prove that you would be killed in your own".

His bloody demonstration occurred in Newcastle's Bigg Market outside the North of England Refugee Centre.

Monica Bishop, area manager of the Refugee Service, said: "We are all very upset, it is a big shock for someone to attempt suicide just outside our building.

"We think this man was a client of ours who was protesting at being sent back to his own country.

"Unfortunately, we have had to make some people homeless because of the Government's new section 55 order."

The order is the withdrawal of emergency support from asylum seekers under the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, if they fail to make a claim for asylum "as soon as reasonably practicable" after their arrival.

Ms Bishop said: "We have had to deal with people attempting suicide before because there is only so much we can do."

The asylum seeker is recovering in hospital after the incident on Friday lunchtime.